Last Thursday I was in theatre geek heaven as I got the chance to see Broadway, film and television star Malcolm Gets perform up close and personal at a fundraiser for our local chamber orchestra.

Performing for a crowd, most of whom had known him growing up here, he played the piano and told stories of the influence music had on his family (these three links are audio clips), sang songs about the after effects of being on a successful sitcom, and treated us to a variety of classic and contemporary musical theatre tunes.

The day after the concert, I chatted with this charming, intelligent, passionate artist about the evolution of his acting process, being an openly gay performer, his upcoming film roles in Grey Gardens and Sex and the City, as well as a new CD project he has in the works.

Man in Chair: You spoke last night about finding a true connection to a character for the first time when you played Mozart in Amadeus. Can you talk a little more about that first experience, and how your process evolved at Yale and throughout your professional career?

Malcolm Gets: It’s funny, I’ve done so many plays—there are plays I don’t even remember—but I remember lines from Amadeus. That’s how much I love that play.

There’s a scene in the play where we all attend the opening of The Marriage of Figaro, and I remember somewhere early in the run—I was eighteen or nineteen years old—we would just be standing there and they would be playing this recording and I remember more than a few performances, I would just start bawling. The music just got to me. That happened a lot in that show.

In the early days it was luck. It was luck, because I had no knowledge of how to…I had no technique.

So basically what happened was, I was 23 or 24, I’m in New York City, and somebody suggested I go back to school. I auditioned for Yale—didn’t tell anyone I was auditioning—and I was accepted into their Masters program.

I had a lot of great teachers—but I had a great voice teacher. Not singing teacher, but like a Linkletter voice teacher named Virginia Ness Ray. I think about her a lot. Virginia was…mystical. She was one of those really gifted teachers and she affected me on so many levels.

I live a great deal of my life in my head. I get uncomfortable in my own body, but Virginia was the first person who taught me how to stand still, take a deep breath, and start to practice being in my own body. There’s no way of harnessing inspiration. But she was one of the first people to teach me how to increase the possibility of that happening.

And now I teach. I teach part time at Julliard and at NYU. And I always have these conversations with the students, like how many times have you heard a tenor or a soprano with an absolutely technically perfect voice, and for two seconds you’re dazzled and then a minute later you’re trying to remember if you left the refrigerator door open.

And then you hear Tom Waits, or Bette Midler or Carol Channing—people whose voices are damaged, or they have five notes but they have the most compelling, interesting sound.

And it’s something I always have to remind myself too—I can get very self conscious about what I sound like, and I just try to tell myself, “No, just tell the story.” Because ultimately I think that’s what the audience wants. They want to have the experience.

MIC: You talked about being more comfortable in your head than in your body, and it seems that a lot of the musicals you are known for—Hello Again, Amore, A New Brain—are a little more heady, more dark or edgy. How much as an actor do you choose what you’re in and how much is just how you are cast?

MG: Well, it’s interesting that you say that because in the last few years, I actually have done a lot of lightweight projects, albeit short runs. The Apple Tree at Encores, Boys of Syracuse at Encores, Finnian’s Rainbow. It was a lot of fun at first, but now I’m realizing I think people are starting to pigeonhole me that way, as this sort of Danny Kaye lightweight song and dance guy.

Even recently they had lost a director at NYU for a Shakespeare project in the program I work in, so I went to the head of the program and I said “Hey, what if I direct the project?” And he was like, “Have you ever done any Shakespeare?” And I thought “I won an Obie for Shakespeare. My first two years out of school I did Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Moliere.”

So the business very quickly can forget what you did five, six, seven, ten years ago. Another thing I say to the students—because I know it’s true for myself—is you have to every now and then “re-remind” the business of what you can do.

If I just sit back and let people tell me what to do, I’ll never ever do anything different. I’ll keep doing the same thing over and over and over. So it’s challenging but you have to somehow find a way to keep reinventing yourself. If that’s what you want. If you want to have a varied career, which I certainly do.

MIC: And you certainly have.

MG: I have, but it’s interesting that we’re talking about this now because I feel like I’ve come to that point again, and so I actually just said to my manager, “What’s up with Shakespeare in the Park?” I’m really putting that vibe out there again because I feel like it’s time to take a break from the song and dance thing, just for a little while.

It’s twofold. First of all I want to remind people that I can do the other things, but also creatively I want to do some things like that again.

MIC: One of the songs you sang last night, Way Ahead of My Time by Peter Mills, has sort of become one of your signature songs, about a fictional caveman who makes several allusions to the fact that he might be gay without quite saying it.

MG: Well, he doesn’t know that he’s gay, because there’s no word for it.

MIC: Have you felt like that caveman in your career, having to talk around the issue, or have you always been fairly straightforward—so to speak—about being gay?

MG: I was always out. I was out when I was in high school. So I never hid who I was. I’d always lived my life openly, I always took my partner to the big Hollywood events, everybody knew my partner. It was not a big deal.

Read more »

Man In Chair recently had the pleasure of speaking with Melissa Rain Anderson and Jim Poulos, an uber-talented couple who have in common both their love for each other and for the theatre.

Last week, we heard Melissa’s story, and this week we hear Jim’s tale of working in the Broadway productions of Rent and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as well as secrets for maintaining a successful marriage while touring with The Graduate and Little Shop of Horrors.

Man In Chair: How did you end up in New York from California, Jim?

Jim Poulos: Melissa and I were moving to Los Angeles, and we saw an open call in Backstage for Rent. I had gone to an open call about six months before that, and they had given me a “call back packet” with all the material, but I had never actually gotten called back. So I brought that with me and I said, “You know, I have this packet of music that you gave me last time I came,” and they were all confused, like “Hmmmmm, I wonder how he got that.”

So that kind of became my ticket through the callback process at the second open call. A week later, they called and said “We need you to come to New York and be a temporary swing—a two month contract. We’re pretty certain it’ll turn into something more, we’re just not sure where or when.” So we went crazy. Actually, I said I had to think about it, and then I called back a minute later and said, “OK, yeah, I’ll do it.”

So Melissa and I moved ourselves out to New York with this opportunity.

After one week of just watching the show, I came in on a Tuesday, and they said I was on for “Gordon and others.” Gordon plays the drug dealer and he has “Excuse me Paul, I’m having a problem with this” in the Life Support Group—it’s a great track.

Norbert Leo Butz, who was playing the squeegee guy at the time and going on for Mark and Roger, was going to be bumped up to replace Adam Pascal as Roger. They bumped him up and offered me the part of the squeegee guy. And then it wasn’t until February when Anthony Rapp left, I took over for him.

MIC: You were the first person to replace the original Mark, Anthony Rapp.

JP: I was. There was a little time where Anthony went to Chicago, and the guy who was playing Mark in Chicago came to New York and played it for a month before I took over. So Christian Anderson came in and played it for a month before I got to “officially” take over the role.

MIC: As an understudy, were you trained to “emulate” Anthony’s original performance, or did you have a little wiggle room to make it your own?

JP: You definitely have the wiggle room. The main thing is you have to maintain what the dynamic of a show is. But, yeah, after a couple of months I found the role suiting me and my body a little more. At first there was a little “Anthony’ish” stuff coming out because he was the only one I had seen do it, really. And there were definitely moments that Anthony does that are very similar to the type of things that I do, so I didn’t want to erase that “just because.”

And there were other choices that were coming in from the tour and other productions that the director was interested in having show up in the Broadway cast too. When you’re replacing, you get a little bit of yourself, but it’s also a product that’s been put up onstage and you have to meet some of those requirements as well.

MIC: You did the show for two years?

JP: As Mark, for two years and four months. Including the three or four months leading up to that, almost three years.

MIC: In that time, you were definitely in the public spotlight more than you had ever been before. There are websites documenting your career, and a blog that chronicles your every move. Did you find the sudden public exposure to be overwhelming at times?

JP: It was a little bit sometimes. Not necessarily in a negative way. When I got bumped up into playing Mark, that two and half years, after every show, there was a group of people waiting outside wanting to get an autograph. And a lot of the fans were younger teenage girls, who had seen the show several times, and start to form a little bit of an emotional bond with you as the character.

Now, it never got out of hand. For the most part, it was just getting used to the idea that these guys were going to want a piece of you after the show.

MIC: Are you involved in your “official” site, jimpoulos.com, or is it purely fan-driven?

JP: I am involved. But there is a girl named Ari who maintains it. I have considered on several occasions shutting it down because I really thought it was just a thing to do during the Rent time, but a lot of people like going there, checking in, seeing how things are going. Sometimes it feels a little strange. You know, that was a long time ago, and now I’m just plugging away like every other actor.

Read more »

Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley, Idina Menzel & Taye Diggs, Neil Patrick Harris & David Burtka. The world of Broadway is filled with successful thespians who share both their love for performing and their love for each other.

I had the privilege of working with one such couple—Melissa Rain Anderson (City Center’s Babes in Arms and Tenderloin) and Jim Poulos (Broadway’s Rent, and Little Shop of Horrors and The Graduate national tours) before they each had their New York successes.

I had a chance to chat with them recently and find out what they’ve been up to lately. We’ll catch up with Melissa this week, and Jim next week….

Man In Chair: One of the first memories of I have you. Melissa, is hearing an audition song you sang to show your range that combined something very belty, like “Dance 10 Looks 3” and something very colluratura’ish, like “Glitter and be Gay.” Does that sound familiar?

Melissa Rain Anderson: You have a good memory. It was “Dance 10 Looks 3”, and “Poor Wandering One” from Pirates of Penzance. All the way up to a high D! I actually belt a lot more now just because it goes with my type. One of the bigger things I did in New York right away was a belty role, so people tend to think of me that way.

MIC: You and I met in California when your husband Jim was in school at the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts, and we were all working there together. What brought you to New York?

MRA: Jim was cast in the Broadway production of Rent. The audition was in LA—a crazy open call, waiting in line in lawn chairs for hours and hours—and he got the call about three days later that they wanted him to replace in the Broadway company, and in two days, we were on a plane to New York.

MIC: How did you and Jim meet?

MRA: We both grew up in Northern California, and we had some mutual friends in high school. It was a five year thing where we kept coming in and out of each others’ lives. And then after college, we finally we realized what we had wasn’t just this casual relationship. In 1992 we moved in together, and we’ve been together ever since.

MIC: When were you married?

MRA: Summer of 2000. We were engaged for quite awhile. We needed to plan a wedding, and then he got Rent, and a million things happened so our engagement was very long. He left the show in May of 2000 and we had three months where we knew neither one of us had anything major, so we planned a wedding in that three months!

MIC: The “belty” role you mentioned earlier was Baby Rose in the City Center Encore Series’ Babes in Arms. Was that the first thing you were cast in in New York?

MRA: Yes. I’d been in New York for less than a year when I booked it, so I didn’t understand that getting to play a lead role in a City Center Encores Series show was such an honor. With Babes in Arms, they wanted to cast fresh, new talent. I was definitely the greenest. There was some young, fresh Broadway talent like Erin Dilly, but they still had credits, whereas I had none.

MIC: It’s funny that you were such a “babe” doing Babes in Arms.

MRA: Yeah, I was definitely of the hey-let’s-put-on-a-show mentality. I’m glad I didn’t quite know the pressure that was on me.

MIC: When you opened up the New York Times and read Ben Brantley describing you as a “belter with a velvet touch,” did that clue you in to the scope of the project?

MRA: I think I just sighed a big relief that he didn’t say something horrible. But it was an exciting day. My agent called, and Jimmy was screaming and running around—more than I was. Just like I was when he got Rent. I was jumping off the walls and he was pretty quiet.

MIC: Well it’s good to have each other for those necessary reactions. You sang “Johnny One Note” [click link and “open” for a sample] in Babes in Arms, and later your rendition of it was included on the “Best of City Center Encores” CD, alongside Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, and Rebecca Luker. Has that become your “signature song?”

MRA: It’s funny, I would go into auditions and sing something that was appropriate for the show I was auditioning for, something contemporary or something high, and they would say “Can you sing ‘Johnny One Note?’” (laughs) And I started to feel that they just called me in because “Oh that’s the girl who sang that part…”

Read more »

Understatement of the day: Seth Rudetsky is a talented guy.

Our paths crossed only a couple of times in New York. He was playing in the pit for Grease at the same time that I was, and we were also both involved in Hearts and Voices, an organization that provided entertainment for AIDS patients in local hospitals.

He’s played piano on and off-Broadway, recorded scores for TV (including Angels in America), done stand-up comedy (Stand-Up New York’s Funniest Gay Male), produced, music directed and conducted the 10th Anniversary Benefit Concert of Dreamgirls, written for the Rosie O’Donnell show (three Emmy nominations), and written the opening numbers for the 2000 and 1998 Tony Awards –when does this guy sleep?

 In addition to his long list of credits, Seth is probably most well-known for his Thursday night show, Seth’s Broadway Chatterbox at Don’t Tell Mama, during which he interviews sassy Broadway celebrities and helps them relive at least one mortifying moment in their performing careers.

He can currently be seen sporting a terrycloth robe in the Roundabout’s revival of The Ritz, he writes a column for Playbill.com about his myriad theatrical exploits:

“I saw some [Ritz] reviews, and the only one that sent me spiraling was one that said the bathhouse patrons were a mix of boys with washboard abs and trolls in towels. Okay, people. I don’t have washboard abs, so by process of elimination, I’m devastated.”

and he hosts a a daily radio show on Sirius Satellite radio.

Oh yeah, he also starred in an auto-biographical one-man show called Rhapsody in Seth, as well as in an off-off-Broadway revival of Torch Song Trilogy.

Oh, and he’s published two books: a novel, Broadway Nights: A Romp of Life, Love, & Musical Theatre (available to your left at the Theatre Geek Mall) and The Q Guide to Broadway: Stuff You Didn’t Even Know You Wanted to Know…about the Hits, Flops the Tonys, and Life upon the Wicked Stage.

Believe it or not, this post only scratches the surface Seth’s accomplishments and passions. I’ll leave you with a video and some links so you can find out more at your leisure. He’s definitely a personality worth knowing more about! And he definitely raises the bar for anyone who calls themselves a theatre geek.

Seth riffs on Barbra’s ballsy use of occlusive consonants. (This KILLS me every time)

Seth’s Broadway Chatterbox
2001 Talkin’ Broadway Interview
2007 Talkin’ Broadway Interview
Seth’s Hilarious Video Blog

In 1994 I saw director Stephen Daldry’s critically praised staging of J.B. Priestley’s An Inspector Calls on Broadway with some friends. Our group was split down the middle regarding the very stylized direction, with it’s cast crammed inside a collapsing dollhouse on stilts, and it’s time-period-spanning presentation.

As I recall, I..err..didn’t get it, my boyfriend at the time hated it because he thought it was going to be a musical, and my friends Jonathan (who was enjoying a bourgeoning directing career himself) and Tina loved it.

Lo these many years later Jonathan has been garnering great reviews for his own direction of shows like Tea and Sympathy (”Jonathan Silverstein’s understated direction…deftly explores the rage that emanates from the seeds of sexual repression”–NYT) and The Dining Room (”Directed…with discreet skill by Jonathan Silverstein”–WSJ).

I spoke with Jonathan earlier this week about The Dining Room, his relationship with The Keen Company (where it is currently running) and some of the key elements that make him tick as a director.

Man In Chair: Did you ever imagine that you’d someday be reading in the New York Times that you “maintained the cool emotional pitch” that is in keeping with the spirit of The Dining Room?

Jonathan Silverstein: Never! As you know, I’m a fairly…energetic person, and so usually my shows seem to have a fair amount of energy, and…shall we say…loudness. It’s definitely been an evolution over the last few years where I actually have been going against that personal energy, and have found a much quieter, simpler and more subtle style. It’s been especially through my relationship with the Keen Company that I’ve discovered a more subtle hand with certain plays. That’s not to say I don’t still do highly energetic plays.

MIC: What is it like to see the New York Times reviewing your plays? Is that how you’ve always imagined things going, or is it surprising to see your name in print there?

JS: No, it’s still kind of amazing. The reviews I got for Tea and Sympathy were stellar, and that to me was a wonderful surprise. I’m not saying that it’s still not surprising, or really exciting, but that was like… “Oh, my God!”

MIC: Tea and Sympathy was the first time I started seeing your name in print, really. Was that kind of your “breakout”?

JS: That definitely was. Although I got a good amount of press for the Hasty Heart, which is another show I did with the Keen Company back in 2004. But since they’ve moved Off-Broadway, there’s been so much more press about them. So I would definitely say Tea and Sympathy was the biggest thing I’ve done so far. I’m not gonna call it a “break out” yet, though …

MIC: Well, that’s where people started finding out about you. When you started to become a household name…

JS: Exactly! (laughs)

MIC: Tell me a little bit about your relationship with the Keen Company.

JS: They’ve been around for about eight years It’s run by Carl Forsman, and he really believes in doing optimistic, sincere plays. Several years ago he was working at another company and wanted to do some very heartfelt plays from the mid-20th century, and people said to him “Oh Carl, no one’s interested in seeing that.” And so he said, “Well, I think they are, so I’m going to start this company.”

For the first six years, they were an off-off-Broadway company but were always getting a lot of press, and all of their shows were very well produced. They used to be in the East Village, but now they’ve moved to Theatre Row, where they can do longer runs and increase ticket prices and actually pay the actors health and pension, which is a big deal.

MIC: How did you get involved with them?

JS: I met Carl through doing the Drama League, which is a program for young…or shall we say “emerging” directors. I did a program where you direct a one act at the end of it and Carl saw my work. I was also working with Keen’s lighting designer, Josh Bradford, at The Drama League and got to know the Keen Company through him. I did a very small, very simple, very emotionally engaging piece, called The Dadshuttle.

MIC: Which sounds like its right up their alley.

JS: Yes. It’s by Tom Donaghy, who is a prominent off-Broadway writer—a gay playwright—very much in the style of Mamet; a very spare writer.

MIC: Do you go back to see The Dining Room now that it’s open?

JS: Oh, absolutely. Now that I’m in rehearsals I can only go back once a week, but, yeah, I go back. And my stage manager keeps me informed. But I go back and just check up and see how it’s going.

MIC: You give them notes through the stage manager?

JS: I give them myself. But this stage manager gives me detailed reports every night. Literally scene by scene. This scene went well; this scene didn’t go so well; here’s what’s going on. It’s actually really rare that you get that at this level.

Read more »

Hey, do you remember the very first post on Man In Chair? When I mentioned my friend Tina (pictured right) and I finding solace at a matinee in the middle of our desperate attempt to avoid homelessness in Manhattan?

Well, Tina has stuck it out in the Big Apple and is doing quite well as a steadily working actress. This week, she is sharing the stage with Urinetown’s Jeff McCarthy, Sideshow’s Emily Skinner and musical theatre stalwart Beth Fowler (Boy from Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Baby) in Zorba at the York theatre.

Here’s the skinny: All shows will be presented at the Theatre at Saint Peters (54th Street, east of Lexington Ave). Schedule is as follows: Friday September 14 at 8PM, Saturday September 15 at 2:30PM & 8PM, and Sunday September 16 at 2:30PM & 7:30PM. Audience discussions will follow both matinees. Tickets are $35 are now on sale. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.yorktheatre.org or call York’s Box Office at 212-935-5820. The box office is open Monday-Friday, 10AM-6PM.

I mean, with this cast, at that price, and the chance to discover the incredible talent that is Tina Stafford…what are you waiting for? Get your ticket now.

I should totally be a casting director.

Whenever I’m listening to The Drowsy Chaperone and, upon her entrance, Beth Leavel asks “Where’s the bar?” I always think “I bet Nancy Opel would be hilarious in that role”. Not because I relate Nancy Opel with bellying up to any bar, but because the title role of this show is a perfect match for her deadpan, slow-burn delivery. And voila! I now see that she will be playing the role in the Chaperone national tour. 

I had the pleasure of watching Ms. Opel work throughout the rehearsal process of a musical called Almost September at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. I was assisting the composer, Steven Lutvak and was fascinated by Ms. Opel’s process and performance. 

She has been a staple on and off-Broadway, as well as throughout the regional theatre scene since she graduated from Julliard. Fresh out of school, she was cast as a Person of Argentina, and eventually went on as Eva in Hal Prince’s original Evita. From there she went on to play Frieda and Betty in the original Sunday in the Park with George, as well as in the 1994 concert special. 

She has worked consistently on Broadway since then, as well as originating many roles in playwright David Ives’ All in the Timing, Mere Mortals, Lives of the Saints, and Don Juan in Chicago. Ms. Opel was involved in the off-Broadway American Theatre of Actor’s production of Urinetown, and received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Penelope Pennywise when the production moved to Broadway.

In October of 2006, she received rave reviews in the title role a spoof of a certain over the top Greek heroine called “My Deah.” Reviews sited her impeccable timing, calling the performance a star turn, and “the funniest thing I’ve seen onstage in a long time.” Most recently she was seen as Mazeppa, the trumpet-bumping stripper in the City Center’s Encore Series performance of Gypsy.

In between acting gigs, she has discovered a second calling as an acting and singing coach, which she says she finds to be exciting and gratifying on a personal and professional level. 

So if you are not lucky enough to live in the great Gotham, but you abide in one of the cities where The Drowsy Chaperone will be tying down for a week or so, be sure to catch this Broadway veteran in a role that, in my humble opinion, seems to have been written for her.